My oldest son is leaving for Navy boot camp three months from today. My second son is leaving for Marine Corps boot camp next summer after he graduates from high school. His final year started today. Also starting 12th grade today is my niece. I\u2019ve had her since she was 12. She\u2019s working on practice ASVABs so she can get the score she wants so she, too, can leave for the Navy. <\/p>\n
About this point in the conversation, people start to wonder what kind of mother I am to encourage all of my children to enlist. Didn\u2019t I want them to go to college? Don\u2019t I worry they\u2019ll be harmed? Brainwashed? <\/p>\n
I go on: my 18 year old step son is desperate to get in. He got into some trouble when he was 13 and he can\u2019t jump through enough hoops to get started with his future with the world\u2019s greatest Navy. (Although, the world\u2019s greatest Army is starting to look pretty good to him, too.) Our son-in-law is a Marine.<\/p>\n
You homeschooled them, sent them to private school, moved into a school district you can\u2019t afford only to send them off to war? What about their faith? What about the cause for Christ? What about COLLEGE?<\/p>\n
Did I mention that I\u2019d really like to see my brainiacsuperstudent apply for an NROTC scholarship? She plays hardcore rugby- the Naval Academy has a team. (Eye roll from said superstudent.)<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want anything to happen to my children, obviously. I can\u2019t promise that if they die or are maimed I can stand stoic and proclaim I would have done it all the same. But from this vantage point, the service can give them things that growing up in the information age never can. These are things I\u2019ve tried to instill, but need time to develop. Backbone. Honor. Commitment.Courage.Appreciation for hard work. The Pride that comes from finishing something you never thought you could, or completing something after you\u2019ve failed abysmally a half dozen times. <\/p>\n
Nothing on this earth, not even growing up dirt poor in a house with ten siblings and a mom that should have been a drill sergeant, can instill in you that THING that makes you stand and face the tomorrows that come at you with a vengeance with a stability that you know you can take all-comers: nothing, but a little time given up in the service of your country. <\/p>\n
I want that for my kids. \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"